Yeah it kinda sucks. Games that release from late November till the end of December tend to be left out of the nominees for GOTY. Yeah, FC3 will be eligible for next year, but I doubt we'll see it nominated for GOTY with games like the Last of Us, GTA, Bioshock, Gears, and other possible currently unannounced games set to release in the fall of next year.

walking Dead FTW...The year after games like Bastion should have got a bigger stage, I think it's great that the VGAs voted Walking Dead at the top of the heap on the biggest stage in gaming outside of E3.

Phantom Pain was the clear game that is going to be the talk of the industry.

I have to agree with the above comments about this being GOTY before the year has even ended. Do the Oscars come out in December?

The whole thing is just a mockery. They get actors just for their appeal and nothing really to do with gaming. You have people who slave for months if not years making these games only to have these highly paid actors get even more limelight while those who put in the real work have to watch it on TV.

It's like one big MTV video with more flash than actual substance. Meanwhile we see articles about why gamers need to grow up. Kinda hard to when we keep getting fed garbage like this.

VGA on spike have improved a lot over the years, i still remember when madden got GOTY lol.

i thought game of the year should have been between journey and walking dead so i am happy that finally some very under rated games got some credit and maybe getting some free advertisement time on spike will mean more sales in coming weeks for very talented devs

half-life 2 no doubt about it, but it would have been so awesome/crazy if Valve actually said now HL3 is coming in 2013 lol. That would have just been over the top crazy

nice show, finally some gameplay for castlevania lords of shadow 2. Dark souls 2 was out of no where announcement but i am glad its in development

maybe its just me but i thought the show could have used some more world premiers, like we still don't have anything for Fall 2013 besides next COD and BF4.

this pretty much confirms that sony and ms are both about to announce their new systems

inf3cted1

they said FarCry3 came out really late and will be in consideration for 2013 GOTY but let's get real with bioshock,gta5 and last of us i doubt people will actually give it its due credit.

but i hope it gets the sales support that it deserves, its an amazing game

Its not the best looking game in the past 5 years let alone this year as Crysis 1 on PC blows it away however out of them 4 its a clear winner. That category was rigged was 360 to come out on top. They never let PC games in on graphics to give consoles a fighting chance and its BS.

I Actually did play the game and Im sorry if you honestly think this game stacks up against the other GOTY contenders then my friend you have no idea what a real game is about.All this was where episodes like the show that connected with there fans.Its not a bad game its just plagued with nonsense.You cant have a mediocre game that relates to the hottest show right now win based on those facts.I guarntee %80 people who voted didnt even play the game due to the fanbase.I will say that yes FarCry3 should have been nominated where its on a whole other level of gaming and would of easily have won GOTY with ease.I was more impressed by the world premiers then I was of the GOTY category.The VGAs where great this year up until they ruined it with such horseshit as The Waling Dead for GOTY.Obvisouly gamers have no clue of what a true GOTY contenders are.

Finbars is right. I have the platinum for Walking Dead, since it was just given to me. It's not really a game. I really liked the story, but it's really just a collection of choices with a little light puzzle solving. Plenty of room for this type of thing, but it's nowhere near the quality of game required for GotY.

And Mass Effect 3 gets best RPG? Over a blizzard game? I didn't play either of these games, but that's not looking good for blizzard. lol. All i seem to remember hearing about mass effect 3 was how horrible the ending was.

One week earlier? Assassin's Creed III came out October 30th. As far as North America goes, Far Cry 3 came out on December 4th. That's five weeks, and only three days between until the VGA's. As anticipated the nominees were selected well before Far Cry 3's release. There simply wasn't time to have included it.

They gave the walking dead game of the year?! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha spike doesn't have any cred in the video game industry after that. Goty without a doubt is Farcry 3.. Damn, they could have at least gave it to borderlands or dishonor but they gave it to a game that's all about QuickTime events? Wtf that's not a game, that's an interactive movie.

i found the vgas to be quite boring this year. i only watch it for the trailers and most of the stuff that was shown was stuff we already knew about or didnt interest me much. idk man, tbh maybe im just sour because i was truly hoping from the bottom of my heart there would be a teaser for fallout 4. :/

Bullshit indeed. This is just stupid, it is a hype contest. The game with the most hype that delivers is the game that will win. Not the game that is truly amazing and does things in a new way.

Why the flying F did ME 3 win best RPG over Xenoblade!? Well ME3 had massive hype and were the game that most people played, Diablo 3 disappointed even more than ME 3 and Torchlight and Xenoblade never got played because they were underrated.

I can't believe Walking Dead won, it's good but it's kind of overrated in my opinion (I said Opinion), I would of liked to see Dishourned win or even Journey, hell if Borderlands 2 or Far Cry 3 was nominated I would of wanted them to win aswell. Now thats it won I doubt we'll see TT games move on from point and click games

Oh and Arkane or Gearbox should of won Studio of the Year they deserved it.

EDIT

Actually...by the way where the HELL was that game "Old School Gamers" would enjoy that Geoff talked about

You've never seen a VGA award show besides this one, have you? I don't think I really need to even ask that, it's clear you haven't.

If you have, then you have horrible tastes, and one of the worst opinions I've ever had the displeasure of reading. This has been the best VGA in a while (not saying much, because they pretty much all suck, though this one sucked less than any of them that's for sure).

At least the majority of wins were actually well deserved. Borderlands 2 winning best shooter/multiplayer/male performance/best character, Journey winning best PS3 game/best score/best independent game, Dishonored winning best action adventure game, Half Life 2 winning game of the decade.

The show wasn't perfect and I disagree with walking dead being goty (though that's mainly because it's a bit slow for me, which is only a personal preference thing), but hey, at least most of the nominees and most of the awards were deserving. Remember when Call of Duty used to win EVERYTHING? You probably don't, which is why I believe you've never seen a VGA before this or last year.

Well if you're telling the truth that you've seen a lot of VGAs, then refer back to the other theory in my original comment. Your opinion is horrible if you believe that this VGA was the worst. And you're one of the biggest jerks on this site, I really don't need advice from you on not being a dick.

"but this in terms of new gaming content sucked"

This isn't E3, this is the VGAs. There's usually only ever 2 or 3 new things announced at these things, with a few trailers for already announced games, which we got.

Dark Souls 2 was a pretty big announcement nobody was expecting, and the announcement of a brand new game, The Phantom Pain was interesting. The rest were nice footage of anticipated games.

Personally, I was expecting a lot more out of this VGA. For example, The Last of Us Comic-Con video was better than the one we got here. I'm not a huge fan of crazy scene to scene trailers. The Phantom Pain was cool and all but if it was MGS, then I'd rather have had a gameplay video like before. Dark Souls II was awesome. I appreciated some more BioShock Infinite gameplay but what else was there?

I kept looking at the clock for this (like Sony's E3 conference) and I felt like they were wasting a ton of time on really stupid shit. 2013 is going to be a HUGE year. GTA V, Rainbow 6 Patriots, Beyond: Two Souls, Watch Dogs and hopefully a ton of great PS Vita games. Hell, I was hoping for some surprises like Devil's Third, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, The Last Guardian and more new IPs.

Thats a different argument. We're simply talking about the inconsistencies within the VGAs. How can AC2 be a better action/adventure game than UC2, but lose to UC2 for best overall game? Doesn't make sense.

I think the Walking Dead is extremely over rated. It's barely a game. It's got a good story but the gameplay is almost non existent. That's something that is kind of important in a game. Plus so little went into it compared to Mass Effect 3, Assassin's Creed 3, and Dishonored. I think it's kind of an insult to the developers of those games.

And with such a different game winning GOTY, the show just showed the immature, irrational side of gamers. That best bit I'd say was thatgamecompany's speech when Journey won Best Independent Game. I can't understand why everyone in the industry hates Journey tbh

Why are the celebrities choice so bad? I don't even think there are gaming-related celebrities, besides Internet ones, are there? I believe the show is trying to get gaming recognized as a major part of the entertainment industry, and having celebrities from the music/movie scene does that.

I liked how Borderlands got a lot of recognition. It deserved it. I don't know about The Walking Dead winning GotY though. I haven't actually played the game so I guess I'm in no position to talk, but from the videos I've seen of it, the game just looked ok - not GotY worthy though.

The walking dead game series is actually really good. It sure showed other devs what good story telling can do for a game. I knew it would win because of the walking dead's huge fan base. The great story is what sealed the deal for it. Besides the name, that's all it really has going for it.

Most of the disappointment in it winning comes from people who saw videos or images from it and don't get why it is great. When the inevitable GOTY edition comes out, I'd recommend picking it up and finding out why it won... Great decisions that matter in VERY creative ways. You actually effect the story and characters.

This is the first time a 360 exclusive has won that I can remember. Good job to 343i.

I have to agree with Scholla, that there was not really much competition, but at least aesthetically, it is more beautiful than any game that came out this year or last year (the art team are amazing at their job).

Because they're still 360 and PS3 games. Best 360 and PS3 games isn't about the best exclusive, it's about the BEST game (if not it would be called best exclusive game) And besides, this year on the exclusive sides wasn't too interesting either. For example, practically no PS3 exclusive besides Journey even broke the 80 metascore mark, so why would they be considered in a Best game category? The games that are there should be there because they deserve it, and not merely be the less-worst rated exclusive game nominated by default.

Lol a game appearing on a platform shouldn't be considered for the category of best game for that platform. Anyway, you need to realise that besides people on N4G, no one really cares about exclusives, just sayin.

I wasn't trying to sound fanboyish or anything there, honest. It just looked really silly having the three same games in both PS3 and 360's categories. Maybe they should just have a multiplatform category. Then again, I guess it was a pretty slow year for exclusives.

Hey ignorance if you look at Game of the year picks blog Journey is actually winning 2012 with more GOTY awards than any other game.

Also this VGA's was a load of horse shit honestly. Do they not see a hole in their decision? Best downloadable game goes to Journey, GOTY is Walking Dead? Is it just me or isn't the walking dead a downloadable game? Also there are so much bigger games that are a ton more creative. Borderlands 2 gave me that Fallout 3 nostalgia. I literally stood up till 6 A.M. playing Borderlands 2 and I have not done that in a long time. Since the Resident evil 4 and Fallout 3 days. And that was only on single-player, didn't even try Co-op yet.

Dishonored should of had just as much credibility and I could have saw this Game become GOTY. The game is very interactive. The A.I. is smart. Graphics are smooth. The gameplay is one of the best I played in a while. Stealth literally craps on Hitman, and splinter cell soo good.

Journey is one of a kind game. You become so emotionally attached to this game. Co-op makes it even more worthwhile.

Mass Effect 3 just sucked as an RPG game plain and simple.

Halo 4 was good but does not have drastic changes from the last series so no this game should not be GOTY either. Although it definitely deserves it more than the walking dead. Especially since more work is put into Halo 4 than the walking dead.

i didn't necessarily think that skyrim deserved GOTY last year, but I understood why it won. this year, on the other hand, was a TOTAL JOKE. this is the 2004 election of game of the year awards.

because I guarantee you that the walking dead got the LEAST amount of votes from the public. the fact that it was nominated should have been a good enough signal that there was unscrupulous bias going on behind the scenes because most people were scratching their heads, as to why it was even on there.

its a good game, but it isnt GOTY material and im not the only one who thinks that. after all, it is the LEAST critically acclaimed out of all the games on the list (metascores in the low 80s) and of any VGA GOTY IN HISTORY. it doesnt reflect publican opinion or gaming journalism's opinion. it is pure fanboy bias on the judge's part

its also incredibly hypocritical given that fact that they snubbed heavy rain a nomination back in 2010. a game that was higher reviewed than the walking dead and did most of the same things.

I really want to see what Patcher says about TWD winning GOTY. In the pre-show he was asked if he thought TWD or Journey had a chance at winning it and he said "There is no chance for either of them." When will he learn that he's always wrong?

All of these people upset that Walking Dead won GOTY need to shut the fuck up and go play it, seriously. GOTY material easily. Apologies that the game is slower paced and not this big, heavy, Call of Duty-like shooter.How about you try and get out of your shell and try a quality experience. Pick up a game like Journey or Walking Dead.A game as emotionally gripping as Walking Dead and can keep me attached and drawn to such superbly crafted characters more than any other "AAA" game on the market is certainly worthy of game of the year. So stop being so butthurt because your precious Assassin's Creed, or Mass Effect 3 didn't win and accept the fact that it was beat by a downloadable, quality experience. Note: I'm a fan of both Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect. No fanboyism here. Fact of the matter is, while this show shouldn't be taken seriously, expect The Walking Dead to take the cake in various other places as well. The game is unlike many in the market. Deal. With. It.

All of the people who are crying "BAH! HOW DARE TELLTALE WALKING DEAD WIN GOTY!"

Have either:

1. Have never played it, and just deem it un "goty"-able due to it being a 5$ downloadable, and thinking TellTale is only Capable of creating medicore games.

2. Played a few episodes and stopped..this game is SLOW PACED. THE FIRST FEW EPISODES SHOULD !NOT! BE A BAROMETER FOR THE ENTIRE SEASON...especially since the conclusion was fucking awesome and created a great pay off.

Seriously people..it's 5 dollars..if your scratching your head as to why the hell a little studio like telltale can make a gaming experience like none other, THAN TRY THE DANG GAME and make your opinion.

I would've picked Halo4/COD/Assansins Creed multiplayer over borderlands because of the fact that Borderlands only has co- op. Halo 4 has true 4 player co-op campaign and multiplayer, COD has co- op throught zombie mode and multiplayer. Borderlands has true co-op campaign but multiplayer modes?

Also, where are the racing games of the year, fighters, ect. Forza horizon, need for speed, streetfighter x tekken, tekken, doa5, virtua fighters ? Oh I'm sorry, this is bread winners of the year.